Summer Reading Project

Overview

Every summer we have a group reading project. This is a chance for us to continue to grow as a community even though we will be separated by many miles (we say that every summer – but it’s doubly true this year). This summer we’re reading Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensées Edited, Outlined & Explained by Peter Kreeft, an annotated translation of The Pensées by a professor of philosophy.

In his words, “I know no pre-twentieth-century book except the Bible that shoots Christian arrows farther into modern pagan hearts than the Pensées. I have taught ‘Great Books’ classes for twenty years, and every year my students sit silent, even awed, at Pascal more than at any other of the forty great thinkers we cover throughout the history of Western philosophy and theology.”

How To Participate

If you’re interested, buy the book and fill out the form then read along with us! Incoming students as well as alumni are welcome to read along with us. Filling out the form means that we’ll add you to the discussions that we have about the book, but if you prefer to read on your own in stealth mode, go for it.

Stanford’s virtual commencement is Sunday, June 14. We’ll begin reading the following week. There will be about 25 pages of reading per week. Here’s the reading schedule:

Fall quarter classes are currently slated to begin September 14, 2020.

We’ve recently started archiving our previous summer reading projects for the curious

The 2019 Book: Celebration of Discipline

Every year we do a summer reading project. This is a chance for us to continue to grow as a community even though we will be separated by many miles. This summer we’re reading Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster (Amazon). This book, first published in 1978, has helped millions develop habits to move them closer to Christian maturity.

Here’s the reading schedule.

Commencement is Sunday, June 16 – summer begins. 

Classes resume Monday, September 23 and we will resume our weekly on-campus worship services.

The 2018 Books: A C.S. Lewis Assortment

Every year we do a summer reading project. This is a chance for us to continue to grow as a community even though we will be separated by many miles. This summer we’re reading three shorter works by CS Lewis: The Abolition of Man (full text on archive.org), The Four Loves (full text), and The Screwtape Letters (full text). I believe those links are legal – let me know if they are not.

Here’s the reading schedule.

Commencement is Sunday, June 17 – summer begins. 

Classes resume Monday, September 24 and our first worship services will begin that week.

The 2017 Book: To Change The World

Our book this summer is To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter, a Christian who is a sociologist at UVA. This is a thoughtful book about Christianity, politics, and culture.

From the publisher’s summary: “The call to make the world a better place is inherent in the Christian belief and practice. But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the 21st century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative?”

Two helpful reviews are at Books and Culture and 9Marks.

Special bonus – for the first time ever, our summer reading project is a book that is available online via the Stanford Library.

How To Participate

If you’re interested, fill out the form and read along with us! Incoming students as well as alumni are welcome to read along with us. Filling out the form means that we’ll add you to the discussions that we have about the book, but if you prefer to read on your own in total stealth mode, go for it.

Here’s the reading schedule.

Commencement is Sunday, June 18 – summer begins. 

Classes resume Monday, September 25 and our first worship services will begin that week.